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I pursed my lips. “And any new mercenaries we hire could actually be working for our enemies.”
“Yep. It’s a major clusterfuck,” he replied matter-of-factly.
Shea’s eyes met mine in the rearview mirror. “Much as I hate to ask this, what about your grandmother?”
I folded my arms across my chest and scowled. “What do you mean? This isourcity to protect.”
Connor’s hand settled upon my thigh and began caressing softly. As if he could soothe away my annoyance. Under other circumstances, that might actually have worked. But not where my grandmother was concerned.
One thing I both appreciated and resented about Shea was he never backed down from the tough stuff. Including calling me out on my own stubborn pride.
“Much as I love that you’re so committed to protecting our pack, Ava, Kayleigh said it herself. We can’t be too proud to accept magical assistance from the Circle. Besides, it’s only fair that Muriel contributes to our protection given that Alexander appears to be out forherpolitical blood. Besides, it’s her duty to send St. Louis another Understudy, at bare minimum.”
I fought back the swarm of resentment swirling inside. Shea bringing up one of the last pieces of advice Kayleigh had delivered in her final Radiant Order plus a very logical point himself made it hard to wallow in my pride. Not to mention I would do just about anything to protect my nieces. And, I realized as I glanced down at Connor’s hand upon my thigh, the Shadow Wolves I was already falling in love with.
Which meant we needed to get Finn back. Nobody could mess with my family—or my bonded wolves—and get away with it. Even the wolf who was still on my shit list.
Mate!My inner wolf decided to chime in.All three are our mates.
I rolled my eyes. Just because my human side had finally admitted emotions for all three Donnelly cousins didn’t mean we were ready to use the big “M” word. Which, in Shifter culture, meantmateand notmarriage. We held those legal ceremonies strictly to placate the human government.
Also made filing taxes a heck of a lot easier.
“Fine,” I said with ill grace. “I’ll call Grandmother and see if she has any Radiants to send while we sort this mess out. But it’ll take time for them to get here. And we need to save Finnnow.”
I met Shea’s eyes in the mirror again. “So after I call Grandmother, I’ll see what kind of support my parents can send to the Manor. I should let them know the girls are safe anyway.”
Within minutes, I did a good enough job swallowing my pride that my grandmother had agreed to send several Circle Radiants to St. Louis. My parents were also relieved to hear the girls were secured in a safe house with Regina and had agreed to lead a group of Spellbinders loyal to them to the Manor until those reinforcements could arrive. Connor called Sanai to let her know to expect the friendly backup. And we had gathered the three SUVs full of reinforcements so we could get Finn back. And hopefully take Alexander's ass into custody.
Connor placed his arm along my shoulder as I wrapped both arms around him and snuggled close. "Mm, this is certainly nice," he murmured. Earning an eye roll from Shea, I noticed in the rearview mirror.
"Don't worry, I have ulterior motives," I drawled. "I'm using your blood tie with Finn to make tracking him easier."
Shea chuckled, and I shot him a mock stern expression. "Eyes and attention on the road, Wolfie."
"Yes ma'am," he replied sardonically.
I squeezed my eyes shut and siphoned energy through our Pack tethers, not wanting to deplete my bonded wolves' reserves any further. Not when we likely had a big battle ahead.
Or—even more likely—battles plural.
Using Radiant magic to tap into Finn's physical location proved even easier than finding the girls. Likely more because I was now tethered to these three wolves than being able to use Connor’s blood tie with Finn. Not that I minded the excuse to cuddle close.
"East from here," I directed Shea.
We slipped into the routine of calling out and following directions for the next few minutes. My emotions raged all over the place. One moment I was filled with determined hope and the next sickening dread. I couldn't help feeling that Alexander had to have something big planned. Something we couldn't see coming. He had invested too much time and effort in this subterfuge—sending us off to rescue the girls from imaginary enemies so he could presumably arrange some other trap involving Finn. It was the only thing that made sense.
Even then, I still hadn't puzzled out everything. Why had Alexander gone to all this trouble rather than attacking us more directly? What exactly was he angling for? Obviously he had needed to delay us for some purpose. But what? And had he been behind the attack against our limo outside the Manor? Or were there multiple factions taking advantage of the chaos to strike out against our Pack?
At this point, I don’t think anything would have surprised me.
There was also still the question of whether my grandmother actuallyhadbeen involved, the way Detective Rosen had claimed. And if Rosen’s information was false, was that because someone had misdirected her to throw suspicion off themselves? Or could she be secretly united with her infamous father? He certainly had the power and prestige among extremist Spellbinders to gather the kind of numbers thrown against us tonight.
“We’re getting close,” Shea, Connor, and I said at the same thing before blinking at each other in surprise.
My lips pursed. “Well that’s a new development. I think we’re still at least a mile away from wherever they are, although it feels like their limo is still on the move. Are the two of you sensing Finn’s proximity through our shared tethers?”
Connor tilted his head. “Ithinkso? We’ve always had kind of a sixth sense for each other, but only when pretty close. Like within a hundred feet.”
